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Monday, May 6, 2013

(by now you probably realized I don't talk about things until the possibility is reality and the situation pretty much determined)

from this...

to this...

Which means new city, new state, new job...

Now you know why I haven't been talking about the furniture line. Just when I decide I was completely prepared to move forward and show the line another opportunity came out of nowhere. I guess that's how these things sometimes happen - just when you least expect it! But, this one was just to good to pass up - even if it means moving from the house and property I love. Sometimes its just time to move on.

What I haven't previously mentioned is that we decided a year or so ago that we were ready to sell the house and return to city life. 20 years, one minor and one major renovation, a dozen farm cats, and more tomato plants than you can image has been great but its was time to check back in to civilization. This was a decision which did not come lightly and took awhile to evolve. Even then we thought it would be another five years or so before we actually put the house on the market and moved. After all the part we hadn't decided was where we would move! But, then fate entered the picture and made the decision for us.

So now we go from one extreme to the other!

My first thought was to simply close down the blog at this point. After all the blog name is based one of the original owners of the house - not me. And, its focus has been on southern style and all things plantation. Also, I didn't want my blog to be one of those which just lies there in the internet waste land, never updated, never read.

But, even with the life change about to happen I've decided that maybe I still have something to say. So, before I close it down let's just see what happens next. Who knows, maybe its just time to take a moment, regroup and retool and come back even better! But, bare with me. I'm going to be busy so I want be around for awhile, but I will be back.

So for now I'm off to my high-rise adventure. The long suffering 'C' will continue to be here on the farm until it sells. Saint Joseph has been planted in the backyard and I'll be coming back and forth - the grass still needs to be cut!

Oh...let me know if you want to buy a plantation. I just happened to have one available!

Saturday, May 4, 2013

I've received a few comments and even more emails from people who have been surprised by my last post about the furniture line. No one has missed anything. I decided not to mention the line until I had worked through the possibility of bringing it to reality. My hope has been to introduce the line to the residential market at Highpoint in October. But, as much work as you put into the designs, brand and concept it doesn't happened unless you find someone to actually make the stuff! And, securing a manufacturing partner - who you can trust - is the most difficult part. Even with that roadblock I was determined to push forward...

Friday, April 26, 2013

I thought I'd share a few images of my furniture line. There are close to 60 different pieces at this point. The line focuses mostly on occasional pieces such as consoles, side tables, cocktails and étagères. It is primarily marketed to our retail clients as inspiration for our store design projects. I've toyed with the idea of slightly retooling the line and marketing it to the trade for residential clients. I'd developed a name, logo and brand concept and even have gone as far as trademarking certain concepts - but the way things are whirling around my head these days that idea will just have to wait. For now anyway.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

I may be in the market to recover my sofa.I probably should just buy a new one, but C and several of my friends would never speak to me again if I got rid of ‘the gold sofa’.In fact C informed me I’d go before ‘the gold sofa’.

The fabric is still in pretty good shape, but the down cushion has had it and the springs probably need to be re-tied.So, if I have it redone I’m thinking of changing the color and fabric from its current gold chenille to mohair. Maybe green or gray.

Of course I could change it to purple or orange and it would still always be known as ‘the gold sofa’.Some things never change if no matter what you do to them.

Friday, March 15, 2013

70 degrees here this weekend and its getting closer to the time for outdoor planting. The last couple of years I've hung huge ferns or planted flats of annuals in baskets on the porches. This Sring I have a new idea. I took these photos late last year when we were on a trip to Jekyll Island at the Georgia coast. This is at the Jekyll Island club. They had trained flowering vines - primarily mandevilla to climb up the basket supports to form these towering pyramids. Looks like a winner to me! I'm going to try mandevilla, bougainvillea and potato vine forcing the vines to climb up and hang down to overflow and see what happens...more to come...

Of course this has nothing to do with hanging baskets, but I like the hanging moss in the oaks at Jekyll Island!

Thursday, February 28, 2013

I believe garden spaces need to be thought of as 'rooms' - no different than the rooms in a house. Of course the design of any good room must consider the entrance and doorways. There's no difference in the garden. Passage between garden spaces are as important as the space itself. Gates matter!

A.J.Barnes

A.J.Barnes is a Southern Narrative, a Design Point of View, and an Authentic Lifestyle. Combining historic and modern - from adding a twenty-first-century addition to a 1830's plantation house, to standing a modern glass table on heart of pine floor, or recovering an empire sofa in matt black leather - creates the rustic formality design style of A.J.Barnes.

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